Friday, May 30, 2008

LA Weekly Covers the UFO's Magic and Mysticism Conference in Hollywood


L to R: Jordan Maxwell (out of frame), Dr, Roger Leir, Jay Weidner, Mike Bara, Harijiwan Khalsa, Yvonne Smith.

From LAWeekly.com:

The broadcast-quality lilt of Coast to Coast AM radio host George Noory wafted over a packed conference room at Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn last Saturday night as he a moderated a panel of out-there researchers engaged in a radical examination of Hollywood’s covert use of occult symbolism and alien agendas — the same week that the Vatican’s chief astronomer told an interviewer that belief in alien life does not contradict belief in God. As Noory told the audience, “There’s definitely a sense of an impending ... something.”

Noory is the successor to radio’s legendary Art Bell, who stoked a particular millennial Zeitgeist with his fireside chats on UFOs, the paranormal and all manner of conspiracy theories with his syndicated radio program, before passing the mike to Noory in 2002. Coast to Coast AM remains a cultural touchstone, and Noory — personable and mustachioed — continues to bring so-called fringe ideas front and center.

We’re at “an extraordinary crossroads, with the way life is unfolding,” commented panelist Whitley Strieber, whose most recent novel is based on the doomsday/consciousness-shifting 2012 mythos, and who believes he was “implanted” with a device by his “visitors.” He recalled a bit of the aliens’ verbiage: “We will come from within you.”

According to panelist/abduction therapist Yvonne Smith, 17 functional-growth characteristics in humans born between 1947 and 1987 have been accelerated by 60 to 80 percent. “It’s not environment, it’s not evolution,” she asserted.

A “mutation of society” is under way, and “the skeptic community is getting quieter and quieter,” remarked Dr. Roger Leir, a Valley-based podiatrist, who removes alleged alien implants.

Jordan Maxwell, an expert in occult symbolism and secret societies, likened Americans to Alec Guinness’ blindly megalomaniacal lieutenant colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai once he realizes he’s been working for the enemy: “What have I done? There is no way out.”

“Jordan’s been looking down the barrel of the New World Order for nearly 50 years,” Noory said.

Maxwell, expounding upon the secret fraternal orders to which our government and religious leaders are bound, remarked, “The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure are teasers. The powers behind Hollywood are Knights Templars, showing you what they can do.”

“What does Hollywood know that we don’t?” asked panelist Jay Weidner, producer of the documentary 2012: The Odyssey. Was Eyes Wide Shut a representation of a sex cult for rich perverts, or a portrait of the Illuminati? Subversive director Stanley Kubrick died two hours after bringing a rough cut of the film to Warner Bros. “Like the Zapruder film, you can see what he was trying to say by what’s missing,” said Weidner, who believes Kubrick fled for England in the ’60s after experiencing events depicted in the film. (Scientologists Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, he said, were simply cast as part of “an inside joke.”)

In Rosemary’s Baby, John Cassavetes’ character eagerly permits the devil to impregnate his wife to ensure his Broadway stardom. “He’s the spitting image of Jack Parsons [black magician and co-founder of Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory],” claimed Mike Bara, co-author with Richard C. Hoagland of the recent best-seller Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA. “It’s the magical ritual known as the Babylon Working. Rosemary becomes the mother of the antichrist.”

A question came from the audience: “There’s so much to dissect from entertainment now — Iron Man, Battlestar Galactica, The Mist, Marvel’s Sons of the Serpent. There’s even a conspiracy theorist in Justice League of America.” The bearded young man echoed the sentiments of many assembled: “Why now?”

“They release little bits of truth, so that in the future they can say, ‘We said that years ago,’” Maxwell answered. “You’ve got to read between the lines.” Entertainment is used to indoctrinate or spread disinformation. Case in point: Universal’s recent optioning of the “period” action script The Knights Templar. “Each time you get a bigger sense of how the game is being played, you are less manipulated by it.” Maxwell asked the audience to verify his contentions — Rome is still in control, a powerful occult system has dominated consensus reality for thousands of years — by forcing us to pay attention to “their” symbols: words, flags, coats of arms. “Once you see [it] organized, it’s frightening.”

“The Gnostic belief is that we must have an apocalypse to bring about the golden age,” Weidner commented. “But is that apocalypse the death of all of us, or the death of consciousness as we know it?”

The Mayan calendar, which runs out at midnight on December 12, 2012, is expected to take us out, whether by mass extinction, interplanetary invasion or a total paradigm shift — a metaphysical bang or a cosmic whimper. With four years and counting, Maxwell advised, “always trust those who are looking for the truth.”

But what the bleep is it?



Mike @ the mic (All Photographs (C) Nina Berry)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

UFO’s, Magic and Mysticism in Hollywood – May 17th, 2008


Thanks to Jay Weider and Christian Meoli of Sacred Mysteries Live, I was invited as a special guest to their panel discussion entitled "UFO's, Magic and Mysticism in Hollywood" last Saturday night. Officially, I was an "invited guest" along with Yvonne Smith (an expert on UFO abduction cases) and Harijiwan Khalsa, an expert in kundalini yoga. The panel itself consisted of Coast to Coast AM host George Noory, who did a masterful job in moderating the panel, Jordan Maxwell, the patron saint of conspiracy theorists, Dr. Roger Leir, the doctor who has removed scads of alien implants from his patients, Whitley Strieber, the author of "Communion" and numerous other books on the abduction phenomena (and a variety of fictional tales of horror), and Jay Weidner, who runs Sacred Mysteries and is the co-author of The Mysteries of the Great Cross of Hendaye.

I got there a bit after 7:30, mostly because I had to park almost a half mile away because the hotel parking lot was full. When I got there, the place was already quite full (they had over 300 attendees) and buzzing with anticipation. The first person I saw was Tom Danheiser, George's producer on Coast to Coast. We've met before and had a nice chat, and I began to notice it was pretty hot in the room.

After that, I circulated a bit and talked to George. He commented that he didn't remember me having a goatee the last time we met. I thought I did. Oh well.

I was glad to reconnect with Harijiwan, who I first met at the Sacred Mysteries 2012 "Shift Happens" conference last March. He's a really joyful and funny guy, much different than you'd expect him to be given his evolved state of consciousness. As we posed for a picture, I pointed out to him that if I studied with him and became a Yogi, my name would be Yogi Bara. He liked that. I definitely have to attend one of his workshops someday soon.

The start was delayed a few minutes because Christian wanted to give those that had to park far away a chance to get in the door. Strieber, who I had not met, was having none of that. After just a few minutes of waiting, he marched up to the podium, took the microphone and announced to everybody that it was time to start. We all kind of took our cues from him and got into our seats.

What followed was a very interesting and free flowing discussion about the state of the world in general, 2012, and the alien presence, such as it is. I found Dr. Leir to be thoughtful and insightful, Jordan to be a master storyteller as always, and Strieber to be relentlessly grim. Jay could hardly get a word in edgewise, but I got the impression he was having a great time just listening to the others talk.

The only real problem I really had with any of them was with Whitley Strieber. He's firmly convinced that world is going to hell in a hand basket; that we're running out of oil, that we're running out of food, that the weather is getting worse and spiraling out of control, that we're all about to die in some unimaginable calamity. Now, to be fair, I think something really bad might happen around 2012 or shortly thereafter myself, but most of the rest of what he said was just plain wrong.

For one thing, the world is not running out of oil. Our current inflationary problems are with energy production, not energy supply. There remain vast reserves of oil all throughout the world, enough for centuries yet if choose to continue to be an oil based economy. That's not to mention all the reachable shale oil, coal for liquefaction, and many other means of energy production at our disposal.

As Jack Kemp famously said in the early 1980's, when inflation was far worse and the world was experiencing the Keynesian impossibility of stagflation, "the answer to inflation is production."

The issues we face today are solely of our own making. For three decades, the Democratic Party in this country has done everything it could to stifle the production of new domestic energy, be it drilling for oil in the so-called "Alaskan Wildlife Refuge," loosening the restrictions on safe and clean nuclear power, or "protecting" land where the aforementioned coal liquefaction plants could be built. Bob Brinker, the host of the syndicated radio program "Money Talk," has some great ideas about how to increase our energy supply cheaply, efficiently and with virtually zero impact on the environment. This latter point is important, because environmental impact is the most commonly used excuse for not allowing nuclear plants, oil platforms or gasoline refineries to be built. Check out his monologue from last week's program at http://www.bobbrinker.com. It was a real eye opener for me.

One other point on this; there is a growing belief amongst geologists that the whole concept of oil as a "fossil fuel" may be wrong. Led by the late Dr. Thomas Gold, there is mounting evidence that oil may in fact not be a byproduct of biological degradation, but rather a naturally produced component of the Earth itself. If this is true and the Earth is constantly manufacturing new supplies of oil, then the reality is that we will never run out of it, and the perception of scarcity is a major component of the high prices we are seeing today. Gold's theories deserve a fair hearing and an honest test.

The point is, contrary to what Strieber and so many in the anomalist community seem to believe, the world is not crashing down around us. We feed and house more people every year, infant mortality rates decline every year, life spans increase every year, and every year we discover new and effective treatments and cures against the diseases that used to ravage us. In short, the human condition gets better every year that goes by, not worse.

If you're getting the impression I didn't care for Strieber too much, you're correct. Not only did I feel he was misinformed on the state of affairs in the world today, I also felt he hated being up on stage and couldn't wait to get out of there. As soon as George started to wind down the panel, Strieber bolted from his chair, collected his wife and was out the side door so fast he left a vapor trail. Anybody who thought they might get a chance to talk to him during the break was probably disappointed. He struck me as having contempt for his audience, which is something I've never seen from George or Richard, or from most of the authors and researchers I've met over the years. They are always gracious and giving of their time and happy to meet their fans.

To be fair, everybody has bad days, and maybe he just wasn't feeling well or was exhausted from a long trip. I don't know. But he could have done a better job of acting like he cared about being there.

After a short break, we reconvened the panel without Whitley and George, but with me, Harijiwan and Yvonne. We took about 20 questions before the night was over, and I felt bad for kind of dominating the mic at times. It's just that there were a bunch of questions that were right up my alley, so I couldn't just sit back and not say anything.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went out to grab a bite, and I didn't actually get to bed until about 4:00 AM. Still, it was fun night and I'm glad I went.

The only real disappointment is that we didn't get too much into the messages in Hollywood films angle, which was actually the advertised subject of the panel. This happens sometimes with panels.

Richard and I are discussing holding a Hollywood themed event ourselves this fall, and we'll definitely keep it more on the subject if we do.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Crystal Skulls Special to be Repeated Tonight

The SciFi network special The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls will be repeated tonight, Tuesday May 20th, at 8PM (7 Central) in what SciFi is calling an encore special presentation. Overnight ratings from Sunday’s premiere indicate it may be the most watched special program in the history of the SciFi channel network.

The show features about 25 minutes of interviews and footage conducted with Dark Mission co-author Richard C. Hoagland and first aired last Sunday night, May 18th.

Hoagland and Bara on WOR Radio Saturday


Dark Mission co-authors Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara will be on WOR radio in New York Saturday, May 24th, 2008. We will appear in a pre-taped interview segment with host Joe Bartlett on the Saturday Morning Show. The show can be heard in the New York city area and streaming on the web at http://www.wor710.com/.

I will update you when I learn the exact time the segement will be aired.


Update: The interview will be broadcast at 6:35 AM Saturday morning on WOR.

Update: an mp3 of the interview can be found here

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

NASA to Make Annoucement Today - Have They Found Planet X?

In a few hours, NASA is scheduled to hold a press briefing on a new discovery made by the Chandra X-Ray telescope. According to the press release, it will concern a celestial object "in our Galaxy" that astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years.

I'm just wondering if it might be Planet X?

It seems like a long shot, especially since Planet X is a solar system object, not "in our galaxy," but we'll see.


UPDATE: They found a young Supernova.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Upcoming Appearances


Saturday, May 17th 2008 – Dark Mission co-author Mike Bara will be appearing at the “UFO’s Magic and Mysticism in Hollywood” panel discussion in the Beverly Garland Grand Ballroom at the Universal studios Holiday Inn. He will be attending as an invited guest and will be participating in the question and answer sessions after the main panel discussion. The event will be moderated by Coast to Coast AM host George Noory, and the panel will feature Whitley Streiber, Dr. Roger Leir, Jordan Maxwell and Jay Weidner.

Sunday, May 18th 2008 – Dark Mission co-author Richard C. Hoagland will be featured on the SciFi channel special “Mystery of the Crystal Skulls” at 9 PM (8 Central time). The show will feature an extended segment on Dark Mission.

Watch a preview video here.


Sunday, May 18th 2008 – Dark Mission co-author Mike Bara will be interviewed on Live From Roswell radio between 6 and 8 PM. The website is here.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Hoagland on SciFi Channel Crystal Skulls Special

Dark Mission co-author Richard C. Hoagland is going to be featured on an upcoming SciFi Channel special on the Crystal skulls. The skulls are the subject of the upcoming movie "Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Crystal Skulls." The movie comes out May 22nd, the special airs Sunday night, May 18th.

Here's a video preview:

Crystal Skulls Video

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Egyptian History Discussion

Okay guys, rather than have you keep going back and forth in the Shatner post, I'll set you up with your own topic on all this Hathor and ancient Egypt stuff.

Carry on...

Sunday, May 4, 2008

In The Belly of The Beast

Would they really welcome me if they new my true secret superhero identity?


This weekend my buddy Christian Meoli from Cabaret Voltaire and I went up to the JPL open house in Pasadena. We thought maybe there'd be some interesting little references to various aspects of Dark Mission (maybe a pic of an aritfact on prominent display, the odd Egyptian reference), but alas, we were disappointed. The displays were pretty generic and pure vanilla, but it was still interesting to walk around and see some of the places we'd like to get access to. So near and yet so far...

What is really impressive is the degree of sophistication of the various labs and facilities. JPL is truly a cutting edge research laboratory, boasting facilities that far exceed anything I've seen in over 25 years in aerospace. I'm sure we have our share of cool labs and equipment, but I was very impressed with what I saw. Here's a little photo blog of the day.


Pulling up to the gate: I'm a little apprehensive. What if they make me take a loyalty oath or something to get in?

There were only a few Orion references in the displays that I saw.


This is not a real person. I suppose you could say that about some of the posters on this blog...

There were lots of "actual size" models and mock-ups and wall hangings of various JPL spacecraft.

Christian does a little guerrilla marketing for the "UFO's in Hollywood" panel coming up in two weeks. Wish I'd thought to bring some Dark Mission cover cards to leave lying around!

You know when I saw this sign, this was the place I really wanted to see the inside of...

One of the uber sophisticated labs in the basement of one of the buildings. Wish I had the Reynolds Wrap concession for this place...

The main Mission Control room at JPL. The heart of darkness...

Well, that's basically it. I highly recommend that you go if you ever get the chance. Whitewashed and vanilla all the way, but it's totally cool to see some of this stuff up close.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Dark Mission to be Translated into German

Dark Mission publisher Feral House Books has reached an agreement with German publisher Kopp-Verlag to translate, publish and distribute a German language edition of Dark Mission throughout the nation of Germany. This is just the first of what we anticipate to be many foreign language editions of the book. Kopp-Verlag is the leading publisher of alternative science and history books in Germany, and has many English language authors in its catalog, including such luminaries as Zecharia Sitchin, Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert.